An anonymous buyer paid a record $3.96 million for a copy of John James Audubon's masterwork, "The Birds of America," Sotheby's auction house said.
Another buyer, identified only as an American dealer, paid a record $220,000 for an Audubon manuscript at the first of a series of auctions of the library of H. Bradley Martin, one of the great book collectors of the 20th century.Audubon's five-volume "Birds of America" contains 435 hand-colored etched plates of 489 supposed species. The price paid Tuesday night, which includes the 10 percent house commission, surpassed the pre-sale estimate of $2 million to $3 million.
The previous record for the set was $1.93 million paid on Sept. 14, 1987.